Deirdre Reilly: What I’m thankful for

This Thanksgiving, I am going to try to do things a little differently. I am going to try to be thankful for the littlest things in life, and see the value of the average and everyday.

Deirdre Reilly

This Thanksgiving, I am going to try to do things a little differently. I am going to try to be thankful for the littlest things in life, and see the value of the average and everyday. When it’s missing, only then do you realize the sweet gifts of the littlest experiences: just ask someone who has recently lost someone, or has just lost a job, a home or a connection with someone they had valued. It’s the little things that get you. So this Thanksgiving, I am gratefully thankful for the following:

My dad and mom being healthy and well, and my dad calling me on my cell phone and leaving me a detailed message about what the Baltimore Gas and Electric guy said was the problem with the water heater. These everyday conversations are like gold to me – telling me that although I am miles away, up in Boston, I still matter, and they still want me to know about things like the water heater. I am just so thankful for that.

My dogs coming home. The other day, we left the backyard gate open, and my two dogs, a hound and a terrier puppy, got loose. When I saw the empty yard and swinging gate, my heart sank – it was windy and cold, and the terrier puppy closes his eyes and little tears roll out onto his face when it is windy. I knew wherever he was, his eyes were tearing up as he tried to keep up with the hound dog, who is like his brother, and who he would follow off a cliff. I raced to the front door to grab a coat, and when I looked through the storm door, the dogs – both of them – were looking back in at me, shivering but happy to finally see me. They had never left the yard. I am thankful for that moment when I saw that they were all right, and my heart soared, the way a found pet will make your heart do.

I am thankful for a strange but beautiful moment that occurred less than a week ago, right here in my house. I have been looking around a little for a new house – and I was particularly excited about one I was going to go see. As I walked through the dining room of my current home, a ray of sunlight streamed through the windows and illuminated the whole room in a golden, sparkly light – the wooden floors, the old wooden dish pantry, the lantern chandelier I bought at Home Depot and have always loved. It was as if my house was putting on it’s finery as I walked by and saying, “It’s me - be happy with me! You brought your last baby home to me, and have laughed and dreamed and sobbed here – and so have your children. Your husband has repaired my walk and finished my floors, and painted my walls. Your life has happened here. Learn to be happy.” It was so clear to me at that moment that I had to sit down. I didn’t get the house I was excited about – I am thankful for that door closing.

I am thankful for the two trees I can see from my sons’ windows at night, the way coffee smells and the geese that fly over my town each year, saying good-bye again as they fly away in their “V.” I am thankful for warm socks, a husband who loves me and the lessons I can only appreciate now, years after they were taught to me, and that I resented, even, at the time. I am thankful for writers and readers – especially you, reading this right now. Whoever and wherever you are, at this very moment we are bound, and I wish you happiness, and I wish you luck – and I wish you the opportunity to take a breath and look around, and see all that has been given you, even if it is just two trees in the window or a call from your dad about Baltimore Gas and Electric. If you can recognize even just those two things, you have what it takes to have it all. Happy, happy Thanksgiving – make it come to life, this year!

You can connect with Deirdre at www.exhaustedrapunzel.com.

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